Questions are holy

Friends, I don’t struggle under any delusion that you have been counting the days since our last conversation but every day that I let pass without a word or two on Coming Out Christian I actually miss y’all. I have been a little preoccupied the past couple of weeks (good stuff!) but I am back on task and looking forward to a great fall of sharing stories and growing closer to God through relationship with the friends we meet here.

I am currently working on a review of a new resource from Auburn Seminary for engaging conversations with conflicted Christians but in the meantime I have a three questions for ya…

Are there specific questions about being gay and Christian in America you’d like to explore here? Questions are holy so don’t be shy!

Who would you like to meet here on Coming Out Christian? Throw some ideas at me and we’ll see if we can get them to hang out with us for a day or two.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Remember, I am clear that it is through relationship, through our shared stories that I believe we all move forward in our journey of becoming. Allies, lesbian and gay Christians, transgender folks of faith, conflicted straight Christians with a longing for a holistic synthesis of your faith and desire for social justice…all are necessary conversation partners here.

In other words, you are invited to lift up your questions and ideas to help co-create the conversation at Coming Out Christian this fall. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kimberly has a long history of back-pew sitting, Wednesday night supper eatin' and generally trying God’s patience since 1969. She's lucky enough to have made her technology addiction a career and serves as both the Director of Digital Strategy as a southern liberal arts college and Minister of Digital community with Extravagance UCC.

http://astore.amazon.com/roamabou-20 Vicky

I believe that the Jewish followers of Jesus wanted social justice for the world. I think that the story of the adulterous woman shows us that everyone should be accepted. I have discovered a new book that shows how this social justice message was covered up by His Gentile followers. The church has blinkered its past. It’s no secret that Jesus strove to bring in the kingdom of justice here on earth and his followers implemented it in the communal society we read about in Acts 2:44-47. The church’s dirty secret is that the Jewish followers of Jesus continued to hold his vision dear, later influencing such sects as the Bogomils and even, according to their own oral traditions, the Doukhobors. After exterminating the Jewish followers of Jesus, the church’s historians buried this history of justice-seeking but an author by the name of Lawrence Goudge has exhumed their story and presented it in ‘Cover-Up: How the Church Silenced Jesus’s True Heirs.’ This book does the world a great service by illuminating for the first time this vital part of the history of social justice. I found it at http://tinyurl.com/69cazll.

Jen

I would love to hear about anyone who is in the pentecostal or charismatic streams of the church and out as a gay person. I used to be an Assemblies of God minister until I left the church after 15 years I find myself. I knew I was gay but running. I know there are people who are out in those streams of the church but they are not well known. Thanks for what you do I love your blog

Kimberly Knight

Jen,

Thank you for your kind words and for your request. I will look around my digital ecosystem and see if I can find a soul who can speak to your thoughts. If you know of someone who’d like to share a bit of their story please send them my way.

K

Bob

Hmm, I think for myself, I like to hear stories. In my own experience, it’s the stories that humanize everyone and take one from theoretical theology to real people. I really found a battle with how I think of LGBTs and Christianity just by being around my last boss, who’s in a committed same-sex marriage with his partner. We never talked my faith or his relationship directly at all. But the way he tells stories each day, joking about little things about who cleans what in their house, their individual quirks, about his partner complaining about his playing too many video games…it just brought home how ‘normal’ that is and, honestly, makes me think twice about how people view same-sex relationships, including myself.

So I guess I’d like to hear more stories from folks, especially how your relationships or sexuality intersects with church, worship, etc. Are you in an affirming church or is it pretty tense? I’m one of those conflicted Catholics myself….I LOVE our tradition, unity, liturgy, the way we worship, the philosophy, etc….but some of the teachings really go against my grain. So I’m always thinking about how our church intersects with the world outside the walls.

Kimberly

Yes Bob, more stories are the key! I will work on bringing Catholic voices to the table. If you know anyone who might light to share a part of their story please point them in our direction. Thank you for being a part of the conversation.

Erins1911

Those are all excellent ideas and points, Hilary, and I would love to be less ignorant about Reform Judaism.

Hilary

I think one thing you could do is use this space to introduce Reform Judasim as a religious ally to GLBT Christians. I am a Lesbian Reform Jew, and it is one of the most GLBT friendly mainstream denominations. If you go to the Union for Reform Judaism there is a tab for GLBT issues and support. We ordain gay and lesbian rabbs, have long spoken out against political and civil discrimination, and since 2000 have supported rabbis to do same-sex weddings. (Individual rabbis did ss marriages before then, but that was when it was made an official policy). It would be a chance to talk to a Jew about how we interprete Leviticus, since we still read it in Hebrew, and a chance to in general help Christians understand Judasim a bit better. Liberal Christians and Liberal Jews can make great allies and can work really well together.

Sometime when I read around in Christian blogs and posts, I come across language describing the “Angry, judgemental” God of the OT in contrast to the “loving, forgiving” Jesus who “doesn’t judge but accepts everybody.” Until proven otherwise I usually give that person the benefit of the doubt, reading what they wrote as ignorance from never considering how Jews see the God of the Torah as loving and compassionate, and how Jesus can look quite different through Jewish eyes. I make a very clear distinction between ignorance (having never been exposed to a Jewish POV or belief ) and anti-semitism (having a negative stereotype of Jews and refusing to change opinion when confronted with facts and real people).

But if a person is constantly using the mindset of the ‘angry, vengeful’ OT God versus the ‘loving’ Jesus, how then do you view people who reject Jesus and stick only to the OT? If you constantly use the word ‘Pharisee’ as the epitome of everything hypocritical and despicable, how do you reconcile that with the fact that all modern, Rabbinic Judaism stands on the work of the Pharisees? We still study their words (in both Hebrew and English) for moral and ethical inspiration from the Pirke Avot. For a Jew who passionately loves their faith and tradtion, and has family stories of surviving pograms that type of Christian language can be a red flag, if we’re not sure if it’s just ignorance or real anti-semitism. These types of reflexive positions can keep potential allies from seeing each other as such.

If you want to email me privately we can talk more about this.

Hilary

Kimberly

Hilary,

Sorry for my delay in responding – crazy weekend! Short answer -YES! Long answer, I will email you right now K